Britain to push for 'final' Middle East talks this year

Britain is to press for "final status" negotiations on Israel and the Palestinian territories to be revived by the end of the year in an attempt to resolve the 54-year-old dispute, Tony Blair said yesterday.

Amid signs that Washington is ready to put pressure on Israel, the prime minister said Britain was prepared to play a leading role in the talks which should lead to the creation of a "viable Palestinian state".

"By this year's end, we must have revived final status negotiations and they must have explicitly as their aims an Israeli state free from terror, recognised by the Arab world, and a viable Palestinian state based on the boundaries of 1967," Mr Blair told the Labour conference in Blackpool.

His remarks were hailed by senior government sources as a "bold" attempt to revive the Middle East peace process, which has appeared close to collapse in the last two years.

By talking of "final status" negotiations, the prime minister made clear that the thorniest issues should be on the table. These are the status of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees, both of which contributed to the collapse of Bill Clinton's last ditch push for peace in 2000 before he left the White House.

Mr Clinton, who is understood to have discussed the Middle East with the prime minister in Blackpool last night, recently warned George Bush that he should be careful about mounting a military assault on Iraq without addressing the Middle East. This view is shared by Britain, which understands Arab leaders who point out that Iraq is forced to comply with UN security council resolutions, while a blind eye is turned to Israel's failure to abide by other resolutions.

Mr Blair made clear that all sides must abide by the UN. "What is happening in the Middle East now is ugly and wrong," he said. "The Palestinians living in increasingly abject conditions, humiliated and hopeless; Israeli civilians brutally murdered. I agree UN resolutions should apply here as much as to Iraq. But they don't just apply to Israel. They apply to all parties."

The clarity of the prime minister's statement indicates that Britain believes that the US, whose support is crucial before any talks can start, is prepared to adopt a tougher approach towards Israel. Downing Street is understood to have attached great significance to pressure from Washington which persuaded the Israelis to end their siege of Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah.

One British source said: "The US have shown themselves prepared to exert pressure and Ariel Sharon has shown that he will now obey."

Government sources indicated that any talks would take place under the auspices of "the quartet," the US, the EU, Russia and the UN, whose officials meet regularly to assess the Middle East. Britain hopes to play a key role in the negotiations which could even be chaired by Mr Blair in London.